British Open Power Rankings – Lefty Drops After Horrible Scottish Open while Rose and Stricker Rise

Tiger Woods has climbed his way to the Top of the British Open Power Rankings. Yes, I know, he didn’t even tee off at either the John Deere Classic or the Scottish Open this past week.

But because Phil “Lefty” Mickelson played about as badly as any golfer at the Scottish Open, Tiger inherits the top spot. There’s just nobody else that deserves it.

Other movers in the power rankings are Justin Rose, who has been amazing lately, and Steve Stricker who showed the rest of the golfing world that he’s definitely over the injury he suffered earlier this year.

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Let’s get to the rankings!

Golf Betting PGA Tour: British Open

• Where: Old Course at St Andrews, Fife, Scotland
• When: July 15th thru July 18th, 2010
• Course Specifics: Par 72, Yardage 7,279

2010 British Open Power Rankings

1. Tiger Woods +250 – - Tiger has won 3 British Open Championships. 2 of those victories occurred at St. Andrews. Also, Tiger wants this. He showed up at St. Andrews on Sunday to play a practice round.
2. Phil Mickelson +1000 – - I’m not sure what to make of Phil missing the cut this past week at the Scottish Open. I mean he should have at least made the cut, right? Still, Lefty has a tendency to come up big when he has to and he no doubt was trying out some shots last week.
3. Lee Westwood +1200 – - Westwood skipped the Scottish Open so that he’ll be fresh at St. Andrews this week. That could prove to be very beneficial for Westwood who hasn’t been all that great the past two times The Open has been played at St. Andrews. If he can get back to the form that led to the 2nd place finish at the Masters earlier this year, he could win the Open Championship this year.
4. Ernie Els +1200 – - I didn’t move Ernie down in the rankings because even though he missed the cut at the Scottish Open, he shot an awesome 69 in the first round. It was that 76 second round that killed his chances of winning. Ernie finished 2nd to Tiger at the 2000 British Open at St Andrews.
5. Justin Rose +1500 – - He’s never played in an Open Championship at St. Andrews in his career, but he’s been en fuego lately on the PGA Tour with a victory at the Memorial Tournament, a 9th place finish at the Travelers Championship and a victory at the AT&T National in his last. He’s deserving of this Top 5 ranking.
6. Steve Stricker +3500 – - Stricker’s last trip to St. Andrews, in 2000, resulted in a 98th place finish. He’s a much better golfer in 2010 than he was in 2000, but the lack of true credentials at St. Andrews is a cause for concern. Boy, he looked good out there this past week when winning the John Deere Classic, though!
7. Retief Goosen +3500 – - The Goose was muy comfortable the last time the Open was at St. Andrews when finishing 5th. He’s good enough to challenge for the victory this week and everybody’s got to love the 35 to 1 golf odds.
8. Graeme McDowell +1500 – - He came back down to earth this past week with only a 21st place finish at the Scottish Open. McDowell is a serious, serious threat to win his second straight major championship this week. He’s golfing that well. The odds on McDowell in the golf sportsbook went from 50 to 1 to 15 to 1 in about a week.
9. Paul Casey +2500 – - I still say Casey plays well at St. Andrews even though he finished 123rd at the 2005 British Open. Casey has had some bright moments in 2010. Maybe, another one occurs this week.
10. A. Rory McIlroy +1200 – - After missing the cut at the U.S. Open, Rory came back and finished 4th at the Open de France on the European Tour. Was that a sign that he’s turned his game around? We shall see.
11. 10.B. Padraig Harrington +1400 – - Harrington, surprisingly, has started to play very well lately with a 5th at the Travelers and a 6th at the BMW PGA Championship. Even his 22nd place finish at the U.S. Open wasn’t bad considering the conditions out there on the course. Who knows? Maybe, he does play well this week even though most golfing fans don’t believe he will.

It’s British Open Week! Log onto the golf sportsbook and bet the British Open!